Playing with Lightning
by halo fire
Summary: AU: Duo Maxwell is an expert hacker in a group of cyber juveniles several decades into the future. What happens when what could be Duo's greatest rival shows up and might possibly take his name as 'Digital Lightning'? +2x1+Yaoi+Hacking+
1. I

**Playing with Lightning **

0 3 . 2 6 . 0 1    
well, this be an interesting little story I thought up sometime today. it's my second fanfic, also gundam wing based. I hope my lovely readers like it. thank you so much for being my fans.    
  


**I**

  
  
Duo 'Digital Lightning' Maxwell's fingers flew across the flat keys of the digi-board he was using. His glittering violet eyes were trained on the screen as it skimmed quickly through the information he was hacking into. A grin spread on his face as he grew closer. Three more pairs of eyes stared over his shoulder with similar expressions. "I'm almost there," he said with mischief in his voice. On cue, three pairs of fists started banging on any available surface, cries growing louder as their volume rose. "Zzt zzt zzt zzt," they chanted for their champion. Duo banged a final key and the screen's information exploded from view and a tiny, round disc popped out of the central unit.    
  
"Yaaaaaah!" The victorious shout rang through the four boys, almost bass heavy. Glorious high fives were exchanged as Duo grabbed the disc and they hurried out of the tiny computer room. Their yells followed them into the hallway, where the bounced of the walls and strutted to show how good they were.    
  
Or how good Duo was.    
  
They exited the old building, and continued their victory dance through the streets of Neo Space 1554. NS 1554 was one of the most highly advanced colonies in the entire universe. The place was nearly always in night; a blueish tint like that of Earth's dawn draped the land only in the earliest hours. After that, the neon lights and eerie computer screen glows were all that were left.    
  
You couldn't turn a street corner without seeing someone who vaguely resembled a Hacker. They were everything and easily noticeable. After the Cyber Law was passed, hacking became somewhat legal. The authorities just got tired of busting a hacker ever five seconds.    
  
Lazy bastards.    
  
Hackers were obvious people. Most of them wore somewhat matching colors, to show what kind of hacking group they belonged to. There were very few that went alone; usually their egos were the largest, which made them easily bustable. Every Hacker always has some kind of cyber equipment on them, whether it be a tiny laptop, a muzak player or a cell phone. Yes, they have improved greatly over the centuries.    
  
Duo grinned fondly at his comrades' antics. They were his best friends, newcomers. The people he had joined their group with became jealous with his success, as with some select older members. The new ones respected him, marveled at his skills, wanted to learn. He loved that. He looked up, glancing around at the industry, the lights, the technology that was is life. He was home.    
  


**-~-~-~- **

  
  
Quatre absently brushed strands of his blond hair away from his face and gave the clear, plastic news out another glance over. He looked around impatiently. Duo should be here by n--.    
  
The huge door of the warehouse slid open with a loud _bang_ as Duo and his groupies burst in, the leader shouted happily ,"Minors, we're home!" The sound echoed loudly around the huge room, which was the lofty home of their particular group. If you thought a typical New York style, cheap warehouse loft built much larger you'd be right on the money. It fit Duo, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, Duo's three friends and several others, whom were away at the moment.    
  
Quatre grumbled. "I take it the mission was successful." Duo grinned widely. "You took it right, Q. Here." He tossed the disc at the Arabian and then flopped down on an inflatable loveseat; the others went off to do their own things. Duo watched with half interest at Quatre slid the disc into the watch he wore on his left wrist. A moment later a large transparent screen and digi-board appeared before him. Despite is vague dislike at Duo's cheerfulness (cheerfulness in general, at the moment), he smiled at the master Hacker's work.    
  
"Good job, Digital Lightning," he praised, using his friend's nickname. He smile widened into a grin as he viewed the information further. "Very good job. We could take down the whole colony with this." Duo laughed. "I don't know about that, Quatre. But at least the Golden Tower." The both grinned at the thought.    
  
The Golden Tower, the information base of Neo Space 1554. It held everything. Credit codes, registrations, passwords and IDs. It was every Hacker's dream to break into that place. Not only would go down in history, but you'd be the richest person on the colony. And if you got caught.. well, it was better not to think of getting caught.    
  
A tall man walked in from a back room and sat unusually close to Quatre. He gave a nod of greeting to Duo and turned back to the boy he sat next to. Knowing Trowa would not speak, Quatre showed him the information Duo had come across. Even the usually silent boy's one visible eye widened considerably. "Wow..," was all he uttered.    
  
"Maxwell has struck again, I see," called a voice from the closest row of rooms. They turned to look. It was Wufei, leaning against the dusty railing in front of the dark glass by his 'quarters', as he liked to call them. His jet black hair was let loose, tucked neatly behind his ears. He wore a long white shirt and white nylon pants. He dressed a lot differently than everyone else, trying to stick as close as he could to something traditionally Chinese. Everyone else wore what was in. Except Duo, he stuck closely to his dark colors and gothic scene year round.    
  
Take this moment: he wore black pleather pants with lots of buckles and straps and such and boots quite similar. A white shirt buttoned in the middle covered the black shirt he wore which exposed his mid-drift, and a long black, light weight trenchcoat sprawled around him as he sat like some erotic dark lord. He was unbelievably sexy, with his long chestnut braid, unique violet eyes and golden cross around his neck which he would absently suck on.    
  
Pull up your pants, your perverts and let's get back to the story, for at that moment three loud knocks sounded at the heavy door and slid open without response. A boy stepped in, about seventeen years old, like the rest of them, with messy brown hair and fierce Prussian blue eyes. He was carrying something. The boy gave the loft a quick once around and spoke: "This is the Artificalizers Headquarters, correct?" He receive four nods. "Heero Yuy. I was sent to come here."    
  


**-~-~-~- **

t o . b e . c o n t i n u e d

well, I hope everyone enjoyed this first chapter. thanks for reading, and review me! **now**, or I will hunt you down, put you in a Heero costume and sic a hungry Relena on you! bwah! oh yeah, anybody want to give another name to the boys' group? I really hate it. I'd appreciate suggestions. ^^


	2. I I

**Playing with Lightning **

0 4 . 2 4 . 0 1 

well, this be an interesting little story I thought up sometime today. it's my second fanfic, also gundam wing based. I hope my lovely readers like it. thank you so much for being my fans.   
  


**II **

Much silence filled the room at Heero's words. The boy continued to glare emotionlessly around at the stunned faces. A pin could be heard dropping across town. Children were born, the elderly died, and the world ended. If they existed on this colony, crickets would be chirping.  
  


Finally, Duo stood leapt, flashing a devious grin at his companion and started to circle Heero. The boy stood stock still, not paying any attention to Duo's somewhat interested hums. "So, Heero," Duo's prompted from behind the boy, voice dripping like acid. "Who sent you, why are you here and why us?"  
  


Duo walked around and before Heero, hands on his hips (the left hand gloved) and stared expectantly at the boy. Heero on shifted the shoulderbag he was carrying a bit and replied, his voice a cold monotone. "Who sent me is classified, and none of your business. I am here on a mission, and that mission is classified as well. Your group poses as a cover up from my mission, and your headquarters is my safehouse. If you agree to allow me to stay here, you will be paid."  
  


Heero produced a stack of thin white cards and set them on the table between the chairs. "There are five hundred thousand credits on each of these cards. You can do whatever you wish with them if you agree." They all goggled at the stack, jaws hung slack. Who knew how many cards were there? And five hundred thousand on each? They all hoped they were the first Heero asked, otherwise they would believe that the other Hacker groups were all insane.  
  


Quatre blinked several times, mouth opening and closing, but all it produced was a string of wordless, strangled gasps. Duo took this as a go-ahead. He slung an arm around Heero's shoulders and grinned widely. "Heero! My man!" He prodded the boy in the shoulder with a finger gun. "You are so in."  
  


Heero flashed the Duo one of his iciest glares, but the boy seemed unaffected by it. He stepped away. "Fine. Then I'll get to work." Duo nodded, gesturing towards the warehouse lift that led to the other four floors of their headquarters. "Schway [1]. I'll show you to a room then, since I know pretty much everybody." Duo lead Heero towards the lift, chattering endlessly about the people in their group. They left three dumbfounded boys staring holes into a stack of credits cards.  
  


"... And Seuss, he's good with the cycles and stuff.. oh yeah, which floor do you want to be on?" Heero's cobalt blue eyes darted around, taking in his surroundings. "The closest one to the door." Duo shrugged. "Second floor, then." He pounded a round button with his fist and the lift jerked violently and trudged upward. Duo continued to go on about the members. "... Trix, shit, she's good. The best girl in here, probably the 'Digital Lightningess', you know. Second best to me, of course. Oh yeah!"  
  


The gate to the elevator opened and the two walked out, Duo striding backwards easily. He held out a hand. "I haven't introduced myself yet. Duo Maxwell, Digital Lightning of Statik Riot. Hacker supreme. I'm the guy who does most of the work around here."  
  


Heero hesitated. He didn't want to get to close to the people around here. The might die in the next instant as a result of his importance to the Underground Government. But still... he couldn't stop himself when he grasped Duo's gloved hand. He sucked in his lower lip in surprise. The hand he gripped was inhumanly cold and hard. The boy's grip was too strong for his build, and Heero was very good at sizing up people's strengths from their appearances. There was one firm shake and they released.  
  


Heero suppressed a chill as Duo suddenly stopped. He gestured towards the steel sliding door at the end of the walkway. Just below them were the huge sliding warehouse doors, not very far from where they stood. "This is it," Duo announced. He looked over the side of the railing. "As close as you can get to the entrance without sleeping out by the sofas. You could probably jump right off from here. I know, I've tried. And damn near broke both my legs, though."  
  


"Hn."  
  


Duo turned around to see Heero staring expectantly at the code pad to the right of the door. "Oh." He quickly pounded in a set of numbers, and then a set more. A panel slid open at the bottom of the pad. Duo grabbed Heero's right hand and pressed his thumb onto the squishy surface. There was a moment of silence, and the red light switched to green as the door slid open. "There," Duo announced, smiling. "Whenever you need to get it, just punch '5762-5' and that panel with open up, and you push your thumb onto it. There's a back-up code too, in case you lose your hand or something. 967-48. Got it?"  
  


Heero glanced around his new, spacious room. A queen sized bed built into the wall took up most of the space, but there was still room to spare. A silver desk and chair sat next to a closed viewing window, which was beside the room to a small bathroom. Across from the bed was a television screen also built into the wall. A long silver couch was pushed against the wall opposite the door, above an equally long window with tinted glass. He nodded and set his bag on the desk. He withdrew a laptop, state of the art, and sat before it with his back to Duo. He said nothing.  
  


"Oh, thank you Duo. You're the greatest, Duo." The boy snorted sarcastically as he shut the door behind him, walking towards the lift. "So much for gratitude. What an asshole." Duo paused for a bit a minute. "But what a good looking asshole," he chuckled.  
  


**-~-~-~**  
  


Heero blinked at the screen of his laptop. The white words were beginning to blur together, lost in the black haze of the screen. Oh, that wasn't good. He was forced to face the facts. Mission or no mission, training or no training, Heero was human and needed sleep. And nourishment. He came to the realization that he had not eaten anything since he had completed phase two.  
  


Rubbing his bleary eyes, Heero shut the laptop and stood, peeling off his green tanktop. It was so fucking stuffy in this room, and he had been in it for six hours straight. What time was it? This damn place had to have a kitchen, or at least a storage room, around here somewhere. Sliding his dry tongue around his mouth, he pressed his weight against the door and it slid open.  
  


There was no other way to get back down to the first floor, which would be the most reasonable place to look, than the lift, which would make too much noise at this ungodly hour of the night, whatever it may be. Perhaps this would be the best of times to try his main escape route.  
  


Heero vaulted over the railing, and landed in a crouch on the concrete below with a soft thud. (His sneakers were designed to make the least amount of noise as possible. He was noiseless when he walked, and the sound of his running footsteps were easily disregarded.) He straightened himself out and glanced up at the walkway he had leapt from. He allowed a vacant little sneer to cross his face. Duo looked enough like the clumsy fool to be able to nearly injure himself taking a simple jump like that. It was all in the way you moved.  
  


Duo. Heero bit his lip as the name echoed in his mind. He had barely known the boy for five minutes, and his body was already reacting to his very name. No, Duo looked nothing like a clumsy fool. He was absolutely, dangerously beautiful. There was no other explanation for it. Duo could easily pound the Beauty Queen of the Universe into the dirt. He was senuous, graceful and had the most expressive violet eyes he had ever seen. He could imagine those eyes clouding over in lust, face flushed and mouth parted slightly, awaiting another kiss and a ...   
  


Heero shook his head violently, ridding himself of the hentai thoughts. Who was he to imagine these things? He knew everything there was to know about sex. He had even been on a few missions where seducing someone was an obstacle that needed to be completed to get to the objective, but he had never actually done the act. He had never even masturbated by himself. He was ridiculously virgin.  
  


Heero sighed, then uttered a little gasp as he realized where he was. A large, stainless steel kitchen, illuminated only by the glow from a light above the stove. There were several circular glass tables and chairs in the room. Duo sat at one.  
  


His long, chestnut brown hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, several strands framing his slender, heart shaped face. He wore nothing but a loose wifebeater and a pair of black boxers. He was nursing a cup of hot cocoa in his hands. Heero could barely see the boy, but the light glinting off his eyes revealed all. His head jerked up as he suddenly became aware of the boy's presence.  
  


"Oh, hey, Heero. What are you doing up?" "Hn," was his only reply as the soldier glanced around the kitchen. "I couldn't sleep. There's more hot chocolate on the stove if you want any. Mugs are two cabinets down." Heero walked over to the light and helped himself to a cup. It was still warm. Duo twisted in his seat to look at Heero. "So what's your story?"  
  


Heero glared at him for a moment, but answered. "Working all day, so m'body needs rest," he mumbled, covering his mouth as he stifled a yawn. He blinked suddenly as he saw a flash of metal. There was enough of it in the kitchen, but it had come from Duo. And as far as he could tell, Duo had nothing metal on ... wait.. oh, shit.  
  


The Perfect Soldier's eyebrows scrunched up as he squinted through the darkness at Duo's left arm. Yep. It was synthetic. [2] State of the art too, the best possible. "What happened to your arm?"  
  


All cheerfulness and mischief drained from Duo's face. He turned away and flexed the arm a bit, watching the wires shift around the steel. "An accident," he said quietly. Heero missed the tone of sadness and anger in the boy's voice. "What kind of an accident?"  
  


Duo's head jerked up and he glared at Heero. The soldier nearly stumbled at the look of blind fury in the boy's powerful amethyst eyes. He stood up and pulled his face close to Heero's own. "An accident," he hissed, visibly seething with rage and regret and sadness. He glared at Heero, burning holes in the boy's very soul. Heero could feel himself crumbling, but he wanted to hold Duo. Tell him it was okay, whatever had happened. He wanted to know, he wanted to comfort and console. But the feeling of Duo's eyes on him was wretched away abrubtly as the boy turned on his bare heel and stomped out of the room.  
  


Heero let out a shuddering breath and looked into the depths of his lukewarm hot chocolate. No one had ever made him feel like this, made him tear down his guard and expose his very soul. He had to bring the walls back up, five times as tough, even if he couldn't feel Duo like he wanted to.  
  


"Damn boy," Heero muttered, breath shaking.  
  


"Damn beautiful boy."  
  
  
  


**-~-~-~- **

t o . b e . c o n t i n u e d  
  


[1] bwah! if you can guess where this little phrase came from, I'll give you a dollar! yup, that's right. it's batman beyond. great show, too. everybody should watch it sometime.  


  
  


[2] I got the idea to make Duo's arm synthetic after viewing the futuristic pieces of art at a href="http://www.silvertales.com/"Kitsune's gallery/a. thanks for the inspiration, k! I like having flaws in my characters. ^^  
  


thanks for reading, and review me! **now**, or I will hunt you down, put you in a Heero costume and sic a hugry Relena on you! bwah! oh yeah, I changed the group name to Statik Riot. I'm still looking for suggetions tho. ^^


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